Pres. Biden’s Poor Debate Performance Sparks Concerns Over His Candidacy

President Joe BidenPres. Biden’s performance in last Thursday’s high profile debate with ex-president Trump sparked serious concerns about Biden’s viability as the right candidate in the forthcoming presidential election.

Some current and former Democratic Party lawmakers and other prominent figures have expressed alarm and have raised doubts over Pres. Biden’s mental acuity and capability to serve another 4-year term as President of the United State of America.

Pres. Obama and other Democratic lawmakers Maryland Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin remarked that Biden’s candidacy is a political party matter where differences of point of view have sparked serious and rigorous conversations at every party level. Nevertheless, House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries and key Democratic Party leaders like former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton have come out with statements in support of President Biden.

Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz is said to have huddled with other Democratic governors and had a post-debate discussion over Biden’s disappointing performance.

Some people who claim to have been briefed about the meeting said not a few state leaders present expressed frustration over the matter. Moreover, Biden’s lack of outreach to a number of governors and their teams was also mentioned.

President Biden Asserts He Can Do the Job

President Joe BIden said this Wednesday that before heading to Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, he will meet with Democratic governors and lawmakers this coming weekend to address their concerns.

The president is also expected to address such concerns with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos this coming Friday. in his first post-debate TV interview.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters last Tuesday that they acknowledge that the President did not have a stellar debate performance. Ms. Jean-Pierre is confident that the president can address the concerns well, since he said right after the debate that he knows how to do the job as proven by his track record.

Why Republican Leaders and Donors are Against a Trump 2024 Nomination

concerns over a trump 2024 nominationLast week, the Daily Beast reported on how several officials of the Republican National Committee (RNC) are furious that they are stuck with Trump as the 2024 presidential nominee. They dread that the outcome will be disastrous because in the long run, the party will be supporting a convicted felon.
If so, the situation will dampen GOP‘s chances of ever taking back the White House since Biden will likely be re-elected in the 2024 presidential election.

Not Nominating Trump in the Primaries is Problematic

Not nominating Trump as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate in the 2024 elections can also create a dangerous situation. Still Republican Party leaders including donors are thinking of ways on how to prevent Trump from prevailing in the primary elections in the same way he did in 2016.
Unfortunately, there’s still no clear plan on how to stop other Republican presidential hopefuls from increasing Trump’s chances of winning the nomination with his 30 – 40 percent supporters.
What happens is that 60 – 70% votes that do not support a Trump nomination could splinter. In reality, several presidential-nomination hopefuls are Trump supporters whose only purpose is to reduce the percentage of the opposition votes against a Trump candidacy.
According to reports the conversations prevailing in the RNC is to block Trump’s bid by not allowing his silent supporters to enter the primary race. Instead, ensure that a lone yet reputable Republican candidate will have the majority support instead of garnering only a splintered portion of the votes.

trump encouraging violence among supportersYet another concern has been raised considering that Trump’s die hard supporters are capable of carrying out violent actions if Trump will not get the 2024 presidential nomination. Similar to the 2020 presidential elections, Trump will claim that the results have been rigged. Also similar to the January 06 siege of the Capitol, Trump will rouse his supporters to carry out acts of rebellion.

An Overview of the Significance of Political Blogs as SEO Elements

Online political and social interactions gained notable growth ever since politically charged websites put out “Write for Us General Guest Post” invitations. Technically, political blogs are considered valuable sources of demographic, social and cultural information that brand marketers can use to reach target consumers.

Apparently, market analysts have studied blogs about politics in terms of content and link structure and other technological aspects determined as effective in reaching a broad range of Internet readers.

While political blogs generally cover political news and controversial political issues, market analysts hypothesized that the queries launched are valuable sources of both consumer and  political data. The hypothetical premise works by grouping the search queries launched by readers according to political leanings. Such groupings will then indicate the political party influencing the buying behaviors and preferences of the political blog readers.

In U.S. politics, politically-charged blogs are popular vehicles for political commentaries among netizens. While they have been found useful in increasing political deliberation, the related search queries used to reach the blog posts, also reveal the zip codes of the readers submitting such queries. Political blogs albeit controversial in nature, enable marketers to know where to increase or intensify marketing promotions. In order to broaden their reach, they submit political blogs that readers are likely to correlate with as their brand of products.

Traditionally, collecting information is carried out by way of consumer or user panels, interviews of focus groups and survey questionnaires similar to those used for wide-ranging US surveys. The more modern method of collecting valuable consumer information, is now based on search queries, which has been found effective by analysts. That is why guest blogging across websites is now an important SEO vehicle for reaching target audiences.

What are Guest Blogs and What Makes It Relevant to SEO Strategies?

Political blogs as guest posts are basically content contributions covering political news and deliberations on current political developments; albeit expressed as personal opinions. Studies found US political blogs to be highly polarized between the conservative and liberal partisan groups.

Guest blogs or guest postings therefore are content provided by politically inclined people. The main purpose of which is to increase the visibility of their websites to the search engines of browser platforms. Content submitted as contributions are allowed to include a URL serving as a live backlink. The link can virtually transport guest blog readers to the website of the guest blogger.

The backlinks are important SEO elements as they can increase chances of being selected as the most relevant answers to search engine queries. Mainly because the crawlers or bots had used the backlinks in indexing a website content as potential answers for related queries. The greater the relevance of the information provided by the guest blog, the higher the chances of the website to appear on the top pages of Search Engines Results Pages (SERP).

Arraignment Seals Trump’s Fate as First Ex-US Pres. to Be Criminally Indicted

A 16-page indictment document read last April 04,2023 in a Manhattan Court in New York, sealed Donald Trump’s fate as the first ex-US Pres. to be indicted on multiple criminal charges. The charges partly stemmed from the “hush money” paid to and received by former porn star Stormy Daniels. However, the payment was linked to several felonious acts of document falsification and misrepresentations as they made use of election campaign funds.

The Manhattan legal district office with whom former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen cooperated, released an accompanying 13-page “Statement of Facts” detailing the circumstances supporting the indictment charges.

Brief Summary of the April 04, 2023 Indictment Charges

According to the “Statement of Facts” hush money was actually paid to three women with whom Trump had extra-marital affairs. The payout was allegedly part of a personwl clean-up act for Trump’s 2016 presidential candidacy campaign. Yet Stormy Daniels continued to make threats to divulge details of Trump’s extra-marital affairs with her. Not unless she received additional “hush money” to which Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen was able to negotiate a $130K deal.

As the turn of events took place in 2018 during Trump’s tenure as president , Michael Cohen and other Trump cohorts served time in prison for charges of several crimes. The charges included the Trump Organization’s attempt to build a Trump Tower business in Russia. Although Trump’s other associates chose to remain loyal by not divulging information to reduce their prison terms, Michael Cohen chose to cooperate instead.

Cohen testified that documents were falsified to cover up the hush money he personally paid to Stormy Daniels. The latter, on the other hand, appeared before a grand jury and testified about her extra-marital affair with Trump at the time when Melania Trump was pregnant.

Democrats Anxious about Low Numbers of Early Young Voters

Democrats are anxious about the minimal turnout of young voters among the millions of early voters who showed up, even if historically, they don’t vote early. According to Tom Bonier, CEO of the Democratic Data company TargetSmart, the need for young voters to come out and grow the numbers before election day is important. What Democratic operatives want to avoid are the shifting of votes, which ex-president Trump and his Republican minions are repeatedly trying to influence by sowing doubts and falsehoods.

Early Data Give Democrats Reason to Feel Agitated

As of the moment, early voting data still does not present a clear outcome for the coming November midterm election. About 15 million voters or so have already shown up in the polls to cast their midterm votes. However, the United States Elections Project noted that compared to the early young voter turnout in the previous 2018 midterm elections, only a small fraction of young voters have cast early votes for the 2022 midterm.

There is still a possibility that many could drop out from the 2022 election population, feeling dissatisfied over the Biden administration’s not so sterling performance. Still, the analysts at Tufts University believe that the young voters who supported Biden in the 2020 elections will turn up. The likely motivations for doing so are the Supreme Court’s reversal of the Roe vs. Wade ruling and Biden’s cancellation of student loans.

Sen. Warren Lauds Pres. Biden’s Pushing for Higher Taxes on Super Rich

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren lauds Pres. Biden for renewing the push for taxes on rich people worth $100 million or more to pay 20% as income tax. The Democratic Senator referred to the Biden administration’s latest proposal to introduce a new tax system that would change the way highly paid corporate executives to pay higher taxes.

Actually top Democratic lawmakers including Sen. Warren have introduced similar proposals before but have not received support before, in being recognized as an agenda; particularly when Kentucky Republican Senator Mitch McConnell was Senate Majority Leader. According to the Senator Warren, what they have been proposing all along is to raise taxes imposed on the country’s millionaires and billionaires, as they are not paying taxes based on the same rates imposed on everyone else.

Pres. Biden’s Renewed Call Supports Previous Democratic Tax Reform Proposals

 

When Senator Warren campaigned for nomination as the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential candidate, she proposed an annual tax of two percent (2%) on millionnaires and billionnaires with net worth of at least $50 million and $1 billion, respectively; plus an additional annual four percent (4%) surtax on households with bet worth of over $1 billion.

Moreover, in line with President Biden’s renewed focus on wealthy company executives, the Masschusetts Senator reiterated her criticisms on how major corporations reward their CEOs and investors with stocks that came with buyback options. The compensation method comes with buyback option, which means a CEO or investor has the option to sell for a higher value and pay a lower Capital Gains Tax rate instead of paying higher tax based on the Income Tax Table.

President Biden’s proposal is for a legislation that will require corporate executives to hold ownership of company shares for a specific number of years before selling them as equity shares.

Manchin the Democratic Senator Who Will Block the Build Back Better Bill Benefiting Ordinary Americans

Sen, Joe Manchin recently announced via Fox News that he will not support President Biden’s Build Back Better Bill, which can significantly affect Biden’s plan. The Build Back Better Bills is part of the new US President’s signature domestic policy of helping low and middle income earners improve their economic conditions by broadening their social safety net. According to White House press secretary Jen Psaki, Manchin’s proclamation is a ‘breach of his commitments.

Since Manchin is backing out in his support of the bill, there is little chance for the legislation to become a law as it needs the vote of every Democrat Senator to pass the senate chamber.

About the Framework of Build Back Better Bill

The Build Back Better Bill that Democratic senator Joe Manchin refuses to support is built on the following framework:
Saving most American families of money spent on child care, preschool, whilst increasing access to high-quality home care for senior citizens and the disabled. It aims to provide a major tax cut to more than 35 million families by prolonging the Child Tax Credit;
Expanding Medicare coverage to help Americans in older age groups to have access to affordable hearing aid. It also aims to give health care coverage to 4 million uninsured people who have been locked out of Medicaid benefits, while the health premiums of more than 9 million citizens will be reduced.

Make housing and quality higher education affordable and at the same time reduce taxes collected from 17 million low-wage workers by increasing Earned Income Tax Credit. Advance opportunities for ownership through investments in various areas, to help low income citizens for any supply chain shortages and unexpected disruptions like the pandemic.

House’s Jan. 06 Investigations Advance to Requesting Telecom Firms to Save GOP Phone Records

The House Select Committee investigating the Jan 06 Capitol siege has advanced into asking telecom firms to save the phone records of some GOP House members. The request also includes the phone records of former President Donald Trump and his immediate family members. The purpose of which is to further determine their roles in the “Stop the Steal” rally that instigated the Jan. 06 Capitol insurrection.

It is still not clear how the committee will persuade the companies to cooperate as requesting information from members of the Congress can lead to a legal battle. To date, request letters have been sent to 35 different private-sector entities, including social media sites, email platforms and providers of telecommunication services.

Although the House Select Committee did not disclose which members of Congress are linked to the “Stop the Steal” rally, multiple sources have provided a partial list of names to CNN. Currently, the list includes Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Jody Hice of Georgia, Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar of Arizona, Mo Brooks of Alabama, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Louie Gohmert of Texas, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, and Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina.

Not only do they have a connection to the rally, they are also some of Trump’s most loyal advocate in the Congress. Most of them continue to spread the former president’s false claims of being cheated in the Nov. 2020 election, after they voted against the election results.

It is emphasized in the list that it can be updated any time soon as the committee has been stepping up their investigation, which denotes that additional names could pop up.

Strong Negative Reactions Coming from Republicans Mentioned in the List

After CNN revealed the partial list, a number of Republicans have been reacting negatively to the committee’s latest investigation action. In a statement conveyed via CNN, Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed that the requests are attempts launched by Democrats to smear their reputations and remove them from office including sending to jail the strongest Democratic oppositions. Rep Jim Jordan warned the committee that they request could lead to political retributions.

Koch’s Political Advocacy Group Shows Manchin as Traitor to Democratic Causes

Democratic Sen.Joe Manchin of W.Va. is opposing key points of his party’s agenda as he faces pressure from billionaire Charles Koch’s political advocacy group. While Republicans oppose the Democrat’s legislation about voting rights known as “For the People Act,” and the proposed filibuster reform, branding the bills as ambitious and unpopular partisan ploys, Joe Manchin despite being a Democratic Senator plans to side with the Republican Senators.

The political network Koch has is only one of many other groups that has arranged outside efforts just for the sake of countering bills put forward by the Democratic Party. Apparently, the lobbying effort of the Koch’s advocacy group is hitting the nail on the head for the GOP, since Manchin’s decision is not to vote in favor of the two important bills.

In exasperation, President Biden has described the Republicans’ proposed voting restrictions as “un-American” and even “sick. The POTUS on the other hand, praised the “For the People Act, while verbally agreeing that the filibuster must indeed be modified.

Americans for Prosperity Foundation Advocacy Group

The Koch brothers’ main political advocacy group is the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, which even introduced a website called West Virginia Values. The group has been encouraging the people of West Virginia to email Joe Manchin to reject Washington’s partisan agenda and to be “The Voice West Virginia Needs In DC”

The website carries the same list of items that the W.VA senator has vowed to oppose his party; among them includes packing the Supreme Court, the For the People Act, the filibuster’s elimination, the POTUS’ infrastructure plan and the union-friendly PRO Act.

Democratic CA Rep Submits Resolution to Expel Greene from Congress

Last Feb.19, a resolution to expel Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from Congress, was formally introduced by Democratic Rep. Jimmy Gomez (CA). Gomez cited as grounds for expulsion, Greene’s blatant encouragement of violence against the U.S. government, as well as her endorsement of the execution of Nancy Pelosi and other Congressional peers.

The California Representative stated that while the resolution does not benefit him any way, anyone who threatens lives and incites political violence should be expelled. Although only 72 Democratic Representatives have expressed their support to Gomez’s resolution, expulsion of a sitting member of the House, of Representatives, requires ⅔ majority votes.

Expulsion Resolution Has Zero Support from Republican Representatives

As can be expected, no Republicans have voiced support for Representative Gomez’s resolution, which clearly shows the great divide between the two leading political parties in Congress. Nothing has changed despite the harrowing experience that all lawmakers went through during the Capitol siege in January 06, 2021.

The backlash against the congresswoman has heightened ever since CNN’s KFile showed that in 2018 to 2019, Greene actively called for the execution of prominent Democratic politicians.

Moreover, she also agrees with conspiracy theories that the occurrence of school shootings in the country was staged, after a video of her emerged, where she is seen harassing one of the students who survived the Parkland school shooting incident in 2018.

In February, the Democratic-led House of Representatives voted to remove the Georgia congresswoman from her membership in the House Education Committee.

Pres. Biden Signs E.O.s to Address Hunger and Economic Relief

Last Friday, Pres. Biden signed executive orders aimed at hastening distributions of food aid particularly to families whose children depend on school meals. Additionally, he also signed orders that wold see to the immediate distribution of pandemic stimulus checks to poor families.

The signing of the E.O.s were made ahead of the negotiations and approval of the $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package the President had previously submitted to Congress.

Biden emphasized that passing of the proposed economic stimulus package is an economic imperative and not merely for the purpose of meeting moral obligations. Brian Deese, the White House’s National Economic Council director mentioned that he would be talking to the legislators in Congress to speed up approval of the new stimulus package.

Among the fresh batch of executive orders signed by the newly elected President is a directive for the Treasury Department to widen the reach for economic assistance; as well as improve existing systems in the delivery of stimulus checks by making online tools available for receiving payments.

Another EO is directed to the Agriculture Department, which aims to raise the aid to families who rely on school meals as provisions for their children’s needs. Moreover, the President wants the Agriculture Department to give a bi-monthly allowance of a hundred dollars to needy families with more than three children.

Biden’s Actions in Tackling the Pandemic is Already on a Rollout

In stark contrast to how Trump ignored the health crisis posed by the pandemic, Pres.Biden immediately rolled out actions in addressing the threats of COVID-19 with a sense of urgency. That is considering how Trump’s downplay of the health crisis had resulted in the deaths of 400,000 Americans.

In line with the President’s plans to have at least 100 million people vaccinated during his first 100 days in office, the CDC reported last Friday, that so far, the CDC agencies throughout the country have already vaccinated 19.1 million Americans.

Democratic Candidates In Georgia Senatorial Race Draws Support from Young Voters

Democratic senatorial candidates Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff are using the same social media strategy used by Biden in drawing support for his presidency, Social media platforms like TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram reels have shown incredible success in moving young voters to go out and vote as well as convince others to do so. Theyare mostly age 30 and below, as manifested by their large turnout during the November presidential election.

Jake Best, Ossoff’s press secretary, mentioned in an email that the Democratic party candidates are putting efforts in winning over young people using different social media features and tools. According to Best, the Democratic senatorial candidates’ campaign strategy is engaging directly with young voters in communicating about current issues concerning the environment, coronavirus and others. They usually interact with their supporters through online platforms such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snapchat.

Creative Strategies Make a Difference When Targeting Young Social Media Users

When compared to Republican senatorial candidates Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, they are into using Instagram and Twitter as their preferred social media platforms. Their posts mostly consists of text explaining their political point of views and sharing articles and media content about them or their supporters. Senator Kelly Loeffler’s Instagram and Twitter accounts even include solicitations for campaign donations.

Republican Senators are way off on how to effectively reach voters via Instagram and are missing opportunities of reaching younger voters via TikTok and Snapchat. .

Democratic candidates Warnock and Ossoff have been personally involved in posting memes in their accounts when interacting with the young generations of voters, while conveying important points on why they should exercise their right to vote.

However, the nature of their posts use a less political approach, as Warnock even has streamed some few games on Twitch while playing “Among Us” with young gamers, whether they are of the voting age or not. Daniel Blackman, who is himself running for office as Public Service Commissioner under the Democratic Party said that in one of his streams, he played “Uno” with Ossoff and other friends. During his streams, and while playing, they answered questions coming from players and other viewers to clarify certain political issues.

Ossoff, who is a younger candidate than Warnock, is much more active on TikTok; posting various video clips containing comedy and music, while at the same time conveying his political opinions on issues. On Instagram, he uses the platform to post snippets of movie films to get his political messages across young followers, for them to go out and vote.

Researchers Thoughts on Using Social Media Platforms for Political Purposes

A study by CIRCLE, an information and research center delving on civic learning and engagement, discovered that the attendance of young voters in the last election was higher. The demographic percentage of voters ages 18 to 29 during 2016 was only 42% to 44% while in 2020, 52% to 55% of the population of young voters had cast ballots.

On the other hand, a 2018 research from the University of Missouri-Columbia revealed that Instagram users prefer posts related to entertainment, if compared to following posts about controversial or political topics. The researchers noted that IG users tend to follow news images only if they are aesthetically pleasing to look at and if it’s empowering.

According to T.J. Thomson, a doctoral candidate at University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, Instagram users tend to avoid controversial or political posts because they prefer to use their IG social media accounts as means of escaping the realities of they face. They are not interested to view similar topics on the platform. Instead, they’d rather go to trustworthy news media outlets if they want to get updates about serious news.

Brand promoters and influencers looking to market their product should take note of how political campaigns are now finding it advantageous to use dynamic social media sites Instagram. However, when carrying out campaigns, it’s always best to know which post, Stories, or Reels are producing the desired results from the right groups of audience. Be in the know that there are providers of Instagram analytics that can give the insights you need when looking to improve your Instagram content.

House Dems Passed Bill to Protect Vulnerable Americans from SSA’s Overpayment Error

Last July 28, 2020, two Democratic subcommittee chairmen proposed a bill entitled the “Fairness for Seniors and People with Disabilities During COVID-19 Act.”

Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-IL), Chairman of the House of Representatives Ways and Means Worker and Family Support Subcommittee, together with Rep. John B. Larson (D-CT), Chairman of the Social Security Subcommittee, introduced the house bill in the wake of reports coming from the Social Security Administration (SSA) that demand letters will be sent to beneficiaries of senior citizens and persons with severe disabilities (PWDs) for the collection of extra benefits they received. The said extras were actually overpayments sent out by the SSA at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.

The two sub-committee chairmen found it critical to pass the bill as a way to protect the affected seniors and PWDs, their surviving spouses and children, from being forced to pay back the extra Supplemental Security Income (SSI) received in error from the SSA.

The legislation would put into law the appeal made by 19 civic organizations on behalf of senior citizens and PWDs, as the affected citizens were not aware they were overpayments. Moreover, due to the economic disruptions caused by the pandemic, the families of the affected seniors and PWDs do not have the financial capability to pay back the extra benefits.

The bill garnered Lower House approval and was introduced to the Senate Upper House by Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) on October 21, 2020 and was subsequently referred to the Senate Committee on Finance. While the need to act on the “Fairness for Seniors and People with Disabilities During COVID-19 Act” is urgent, the bill has not yet been brought to the senate floor for discussion.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Emphasized the Urgency of the Bill

Rep. Richard E. Neal (D-MA), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, who originally cosponsored the bill said they took note that during the COVID-19 outbreak, the SSA prioritized the eligible vulnerable Americans in distributing the SSI benefits, However, Rep. Neal explained that

”To collect the overpayments would be unjust, as doing so would throw affected seniors and PWDs into financial crisis during an ongoing recession.” “Many of them are low income seniors and disabled individuals whose lives are always at the precipice of falling into crisis, and have to face a new potentially disruptive conflict.”

The Democratic Senator from Ohio also said that in giving the COVID-19 benefits, no one intended for such benefits to cause any injustice or harm to the recipients.

About the Vulnerability of American Seniors

According to a study conducted by the Federal Housing Administration, nearly 90% of adult homeowners nearing retirement age, prefer to remain in their respective home as they advance in years.

However, it’s important for families of seniors to make the home safe by taking safety and preventive precautions against injuries by reducing risks of falling, while at the same time ensuring their independence, In taking those steps, families of of retired seniors combine providing home care services to help their senior/s age longer and safely in place.

In addition, the National Institute of Aging (NIA), one of the non-government offices that put forward an appeal to House Representatives. Davis and Larson, reported that every year, more than 68% of elders get into slipping and falling accidents. The NIA report also stated that 80% of those falls take place in the bathroom.

Inasmuch as most bathrooms have slippery surfaces, quite a number of elderly people have been injured seriously and even fatally That is why caring for a senior at home is not an inconsequential matter even if they take safety precautions; such as that of making sure of placing only tested non slip shower mat for seniors on bathroom floors. Due to the aging conditions of their skins and bones, seniors are regarded as the most vulnerable members of American societies.

Let’s Fly Wisely : Does Flying a DJI Mavic Mini Require a Remote Flyer Certification?

Last May 2020, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) published a ruling stating that all operators of drones flown for commercial purposes have to be certified. This ruling applies even if the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) weighs less than 0.55 pounds. Since a review of DJI Mavic Mini at letsflywisely.com/dji-mavic-mini-review/ shows that this drone weighs less than 0.55, how will the new FAA ruling apply?

Understanding the FAA’s Registration Requirement for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

First off, there should be clear understanding that while the FAA exempts drones weighing less than 0.55 from the Recreational Flyer Registration requirement, the exemption is with regard to the UAV and the limitations of their use. That is one reason why the DJI Mavic Mini became quite popular, as many American consumers considered the small compact drone as a perfect birthday or Christmas gift for their kids.

Still, recreational drone flying has limitations and restrictions on where and how UAVs can be used for fun or for entertainment. Flying a DJI Mavic Mini is definitely for recreational purposes, because aside from weighing less than 0.55 pounds, it’s a flycam quadcopter that can stay in flight for about 30 minutes on a fully charged battery.

However, if somebody deems this small compact UAV as an excellent flight equipment in performing a commercial purpose within a 30-minute duration, the flight operator must be able to present an FAA Remote Flyer Certification. Actually, FAA’s new rule applies whether for recreational or commercial purposes, and regardless of the weight of the drone.

Understanding the FAA’s Remote Pilot Certificate as New Requirement for Drone Operator

In order to be certified, a drone owner must first pass the FAA’s Aeronautical Knowledge and Safety Test. The test aims to make certain that drone flyers are fully knowledgeable of the safety measures that must be observed when sending out drones in the airspace.

Another thing, not everyone is eligible to take the Aeronautical Knowledge and Safety Test… The FAA requires a test taker to be at least 16 years of age and must have passed the pre-examination known as the Aeronautical Knowledge Exam. Moreover, eligibility also includes being able to speak, write and comprehend English, as well being physically and metally fit to fly a drone safely.

What is There to Like About Biden? or Trump?

Biden builds his campaign by hosting small and socially distanced campaign events, whilst sending populist economic messages in courting all types of voters. Trump’s campaign on the other hand, are built on waging personal attacks and making fun of Biden to amuse his supporters; claiming without any evidence that his Democratic rival would delay the vaccine and “prolong the pandemic.”

Yet even as different polls tell us that Biden is leading, the memories of the 2016 elections still hang in the political air. That is why Democrats cannot rest until after the outcome of the November election; or should they, if ever Trump gets re-elected?

Even if Trump does not have any policies or plans to discuss, nor has taken solid actions in addressing the pandemic other than make promises about a forthcoming vaccine, many of his supporters still come out in droves. While Trump is still making promises about healthcare plans and at the same time dismantling the existing Affordable Care Act that the less privileged found beneficial, we still cannot say for sure that Trump will not be re-elected.

Apparently, the outcome of the November 2020 election will define us as a nation. Either as a group of people with strong political will to change things for the good of all; or as a country where falsehoods, racism, social inequality, despotism and lack of concern for the environment is the prevailing political mandate.

What is there to like about Joe Biden that he will be able to unify a divided country to work together? What is there to like about Trump that will change my mind in voting for Biden? There’s a quick answer to the latter question: Nothing.

Citing Examples of What to Like About Biden

Although Biden appeared to be just a bungling old politician prone to committing gaffes and forgetting things during the race for nomination as presidential Democratic candidate, he still won over younger and seemingly wiser contenders. Even if Biden was not my personal choice, one thing I came to like about Joe Biden is that he was able to transform into a competent and formidable opponent in facing Trump.

Apparently, Biden possesses one of the important qualities that make a great leader. That of listening to reason and of heeding reasonable advice, which Trump obviously lacks.

Another thing I came to like about Biden is seeing him lay the ground for unification, starting with his rivals in the contest for Democratic nomination. He has been working with his closest rivals, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg in formulating policies that he will present to the nation.

This Democratic presidential candidate carefully mulled over his choice of Vice Presidential candidate in choosing Senator Kamala Harris; despite the latter’s aggressive stance toward him in one of the Democratic debates. He checkmarked Sen. Harris’ qualities as a potential partner who will help him carry out plans for the good of the American people, and not for his personal enrichment.

During the disastrous debate between him and Trump, Biden showed temperament and ability to present himself as an unwavering target of a political bully. Qualities that will make him appear respectable when convening with other world leaders, instead of being the center of jokes like Trump was. Yes, aside from the policies Joe Biden presented, there are a lot of examples of things to like about him.

Americans Continue to Suffer as Lawmakers Wrangle Over New Economic Relief Bill

Democratic and Republican lawmakers continue to engage in partisan politics to the detriment of Americans who remain helpless in facing a 2nd wave of COVID-19. The irresponsible and selfish behavior of Donald Trump only aggravate their hardship as he has now become one of the infected and currently acting as the Number 1 super-spreader of the infectious disease

The HEROES Act (D) vs. The HEALS Act (R)

While Democrats are fighting for an economic relief package that will not only continue to send paychecks to the millions of unemployed Americans but also to provide additional assistance to home renters who have been evicted or facing threats of eviction. Actually, Democratic lawmakers are proposing for a broader, more comprehensive economic relief package called The HEROES ACT which stands for Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions, which by the title alone denotes is all encompassing.

Although The HEROES Act will require as much as $3 trillion in government funding, it aims to address not only emergency health solutions but also economic recovery programs that will enable Americans to go back to their normal lives, to their jobs and to their schools as safely as possible.

When compared to the Republican’s $1 trillion HEALS Act proposal, which stands for Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protections & Schools Act, the funding will be used to send paychecks at greatly reduced amount $300 per month and will be vaguely targeting only key aspects of the country’s long forestalled response to COVID-19 crisis and haphazard efforts to reopen the U.S. economy.

However, the country’s COVID-19 infected and now super-spreader leader Donald Trump continues to muddle the relief negotiation issues and at the same worsen the health crisis by making more misleading statement about the COVID-19 contagion. While his steroid-addled brain prompted him to tweet a message that he is ending negotiations of the coronavirus relief bill, he tweeted for the resumption of talks the next moment, probably during more lucid moments.

Through all the confusion and the political wrangling rather than haggling, majority of the American people remains as the greatest loser. While during normal times, most American households merely look to cash coupons, rebate and reward programs merely for frugality, the practice has become a necessity as a means to stretch their meager budgets. Those who have no other source of income due to lack of employment and relying only in the stimulus paychecks have been lining up for food stamps and food donations instead.

The uncertainty of the future still hovers above our heads because super-spreader Trump is not committing to a peaceful transition in the event that he loses in the forthcoming November election.

As an aside to this political guest post, we at You Review It continue to provide information and tutorials to those looking for rewards and rebate program, including one that readers can find and check here!

Biden Unveils Economic Plan of Building Back America by Reviving Local Manufacturing

Last Thursday, Joe Biden unveiled his economic plans if voted as the new U.S. president, giving voters in swing states more reasons to support his election bid. Most of Biden’s agenda were similar to those put forward by other contenders to the Democratic presidential nomination. Rather than be criticized for the similarities, the former Vice President drew praises from his critics.

The similarities should not come as a surprise at all because Biden has been collaborating with former nomination rival Sen. Bernie Sanders. Together, the two formed on appointing members of 6 joint taks forces, which they collectively call as “unity task forces” and has been on the roll since May.

On his part, Sen. Bernie Sanders selflessly supplied a 110-page policy enumerating a wish list of what he hopes that Biden will include in his economic agenda. Ths Vermont senator’s policies Included plans for all American families, such as the universal pre-K and 12-week paid family leave.

A week after Biden revealed his plans, a growing number of survey respondents polled by CNN in the states of Arizona, North Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin indicated favoring Biden. The general consensus today is that many Americans would rather pin their hopes on Biden’s declarations over Trump’s scatterbrained speeches; aimed mostly at discrediting people who oppose his twisted views and thoughtless decisions

Biden Projects Aimed at Reviving Local Manufacturers by Buying Only American Products

Biden delivered his speech in a clear and concise manner, announcing to his safely-distanced audience his plans to “Bring Back America”; not by closing border walls but by harnessing research and development (R&D) and promoting economic nationalism of buying only American-made products.

This comes to a head of creating badly needed jobs aimed at bringing down the highest unemployment rate of 11% wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. The highlights of Biden’s economic recovery is centered on investments for artificial intelligence and new technologies that can provide not onle solutions to solve the economic crisis; but also in harnessing clean energy to address climate change.

Biden gave a promise that he will work closely with the working class to ensure that

“Every American gets a chance to earn a fair return for work put in, as well as have an equal chance to move and get ahead.

Funding for Biden’s Economic Plan will Come From the Rich

In order to raise ths $700 billion peojected cost of investments in R&D and advanced technologies, Biden’s sconomic plans include rolling back the corporate tax rate to the previohs 28% before Trump’s administration lowered it down to 21% in 2017.

Moreover, he vowed that the likes of Amazon who dot not pay any taxes will come to an end. As additional measure, he intends to introduce policies that will require the federal government to spend taxpayer money only on American products, since doing so would ensure support for American jobs.

COVID-19 : Resulting Recession Calls for Drastic Changes

The COVID-19 pandemic has enmeshed economies in a state of recession that will require businesses to implement drastic changes, to avoid economic depression.

 

Lockdown Protesters are Making a Dangerous Call for Premature Economic Reopening

Apparently, not everyone understands how economic downturns progress into recession and at worst, advance into a state of depression. In some countries, particularly in the U.S., many are protesting against the lockdown measures, whilst calling for a premature reopening of their state’s economy. Indicating that these protestors do not fully understand that protecting the health and well-being of the population is essential in preventing the economic downfall of the nation.

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The protesters fail to grasp the importance of having able-bodied economic actors, such as leaders, employers, workers and consumers interacting in communities. They have little understanding of why their government does not want to overwhelm health care systems; driving hospitals, medical and health care workers to a point where they can no longer handle the number of infected people coming in.

What those protesters do not understand is that even if their state opens its economy, there is no guarantee that they can simply show up and report for work as if nothing happened. They also have to take into consideration that employers have suffered losses that diminished capabilities to employ the same size of workforce. Changes will likely take place because businesses will be restarting with fewer resources and with little funds.

Strategies that Will Enable Businesses to Recover Quickly from a Recession

Corporations and business entrepreneurs will be forced to downsize their workforce, reduce cost of utilities and other overhead expenditures. After all, the coronavirus closure and lockdown measures left many business organizations and small business operators, not only in near bankrupt conditions; but also with multiple, deferred business-related obligations and economic relief loans to settle.

In all probability, businesses in a returning economy will make decisions to use cloud-based computing technology and/or outsource business processes. Doing so will not only help reduce labor costs, but also make the business more competitive in digital market places that most consumers access using their mobile devices.

Today’s outsourcing systems no longer denote hiring people from another country to remotely perform tasks being accomplished by inhouse employees. There are now local companies offering to take on administrative tasks and provide customer service support at largely reduced costs of labor and utilities. Engaging the services of local business-process outsourcing companies can make an enterprise more flexible in the use of funds and business resources; mainly because they have fewer overhead expenses and manpower issues to deal with, in ensuring smooth day-day business operations.

Offers of local business-process outsourcing services are no longer confined to call center customer services, but also include processes performed by Human Resources, Accounting, Marketing, Information Technology and Marketing departments. Although it cannot be overlooked that cusfomed services provided by call centers became the turning point on how businesses came to appreciate the benefits of outsourced services.

Overview of What a Call Center Outsourcing Company | Call Center for USA Offer as Benefits

Many local U.S. businesses that have integrated the call center approach in providing customer services have found the change beneficial. The primary advantage of course is the lower cost, including payment of government prescribed duties related to hiring. On the other hand, the morale of retained employees will be boosted; knowing that agents of a call center will provide back-up support in handling, addressing and meeting the queries and needs of customers. Thereby, making the new workplace conditions less stressful.

In addition, a Call Center Outsourcing Company | Call Center for USA can also provide automation tools for hold-on and recorded messages that enables a business to maintain 24/7 online presence, without having to put in place a full-time crew.

Sheltering-in-Place : Life Over Livelihood

Governors in 5 U.S. States have ordered the millions of people in their jurisdiction to shelter-in-place; choosing life over livelihood on their behalf.

The first to implement the drastic measure in waging the war against the Covid-19 infectious disease was the San Francisco Bay Area, as the number of community-transmitted cases quickly rose to about 350. Apparently alarmed by the projection that as many as 25 million individuals could be hit with the Covid-19 disease In California, Governor Gavin Newsom eventually gave the order to make shelter-in-place restriction mandatory in the entire state.

In less than a day thereafter, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York, Governor Jay Robert “J. B.” Pritzker of Illinois, Governor Philip Murphy of New Jersey, and Edward “Ned” Lamont Jr, gave the same order in separate announcements. All five governors agree that at the end of the day, the health and well-being of their respective constituents can be best protected, if people are forced by law to stay home. The only time they will be allowed to go out is if they need to buy food or medicine, but will be subject to vetting by local law enforcers.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported Saturday (March 21, 2020) that the confirmed cases of Covid-19 infection across 168 countries around the globe has reached 234,000, to which 9,840 resulted in fatalities. As of this writing the numbers have once again risen to 284,566 confirmed cases with at least 11,868 deaths.

Shelter-in-Place Restrictions can Slow Down the Rapid Rise

The U.S. is fast becoming one of the worst-hit countries, as the numbers have quickly climbed to 19,624 confirmed cases and 260 deaths. Mainly because many ignored warnings coming from the WHO, the CDC and later from the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) that the contagion has reached a stage where it can be transmitted by way of close person-to-person encounters and interactions, whether in public or private places.

As many of the American population took light of advisories about distancing from each other by at least 3 meters apart , the numbers of confirmed cases rose rapidly. Not a few of the people with whom the infected had socialized and/or came in close contact with, also tested positive with the novel coronavirus. Cases of infection rose exponentially because for every person that gets infected, it is quite likely that he or she had transmitted the disease to several others in recent physical social interactions.

Death tolls also increase, presumably because health care facilities are swamped, while patients needing medical attention far outnumber the medical staff and crew.

The NIAID Warned Things Will Get Worse if People Will Not Strictly Adhere to Social Distancing Measures

In seeing how the American public still went about their ordinary lives without observing social distancing measures, the head of NIAID, Dr. Anthony Fauci, kept imploring all Americans to limit having contact with others in order to slow the rapid rate with which new cases of Covid-19 infections transpire.

Dr. Fauci warned that

“The worst is yet to happen as the Covid-19 crisis could very well continue into the summer.” “It is how people respond to that challenge, will determine what the ultimate endpoint will be.”

Based on a report released by researchers at the Imperial College London, a computer modeling used in analyzing the current state of the Covid-19 crisis in the U.S., predicted that an estimated 2 million Americans could die if strict social distancing measures will not be enacted.

Political Communication – YouTube Responds to the Challenge of Becoming a Responsible Social Media Platform

Political institutions encompass not only parties of political candidates seeking for government positions. They also include advocacy organizations pushing for reforms and activists seeking for equality and justice. Now more than ever, social media can provide the most effective channel in which political institutions can deliver their political communication.

There is no shortage of social media platforms in which to communicate ideas, but if for purposes of delivering political messages, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have become the frontrunners in the array of choices. Yet Twitter is out of the picture as far as political ads are concerned, as Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey prefers promoting political endorsements that garner organic support.

Facebook, albeit leading as a social media platform, suffers from trust issues; given the data breach scandals particularly the Cambridge Analytica case that revealed how Trump’s digital campaign team manipulated FB user accounts in advancing Trump’s political campaign.

Google’s YouTube therefore has become an important Internet marketing space where political institutions can put forward their political communication. Given YouTube’s current ranking as the next largest search engine on a global scale, and its present count of 2 billion active users, the largest video-sharing social media platform has evolved into becoming a major source of political and social information.

It does not come as a surprise at all, why there was a mad scramble among political campaign teams when Google announced the activation of a new advertising app called “Instant Reserve.” The software gives political institutions, tools that enable them to buy and reserve advertising slots in advance. At the same time, they can customize their political advertisement according to their budget, as well as program them to appear in geolocations where the ads will be most timely and relevant.

In addition, Google and its YouTube platform made certain policy changes that aim to avoid committing Facebook’s political advertising errors in the 2016 presidential elections.

Google/YouTube’s New Ad-Targeting Policies

Political adverts appearing in Google and YouTube will have to tailor-fit their advertisement around the age, gender and postcode of their target audience. This denotes that publishers of advertising campaigns can not target voters based on the issues they either support or do not support (e.g. abortion, LGBTQ marriage, marijuana legalization.)

That being the case, uploading personal info data other than the aforementioned demographic factors to target specific sets of audience, is not allowed

Nonetheless, the Google and YouTube platforms will direct political advertisements to users who read and watch content related to specific issues occurring as published content.

The policy updates also address ads and content that aim to mislead voters by insinuating there is voter suppression, or by making unfounded claims that there is a breach in the integrity of the elections. Apparently, this update took into consideration the the slew of fake political news the discouraged millions of voters from going out and exercise their right to vote in the 2016 presidential election.

Whistleblower’s Complaint vs Trump : Current Speculations Point to Trump’s Bullying of Ukrainian President

Last week, the news media stream was full of reports about an alleged intelligence officer blowing the whistle on U.S. president Trump. The complaint contained allegations about Trump’s disturbing conduct in connection with several phone conversations held with a foreign leader.

The Washington Post was the first to carry the whistle-blowing incident, but which to date, still has vague details. As it turned out, the National Intelligence Director to whom the complaint was submitted chose to bring the matter to Trump, instead of bringing it to Congress as required by legal whistle-blowing procedures.

Speculations about the Details of the Whistleblower’s Complaint

The different major news outlets have pieced together bits and pieces of information on events that led to the whistle-blowing complaint filed by the intelligence officer.

On all points of view, the alleged misconduct is in connection with Trump’s widely publicized action of pressuring the newly-elected president of Ukraine to gather evidence aimed at smearing Joe Biden. That is because former vice-president Biden has been leading polls that suggest he will be the Democratic candidate most likely to face Trump in the 2020 presidential elections.

Who is the whistleblower?

Some are looking to either former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, who resigned last July 2019, or to Susan Gordon, the former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, who also resigned a month after.

According to The Times, Coats resigned not only because the Trump administration continued to water down his warnings about Russian activities that pose threats to U.S. national security. The former intelligence director’s greater grievance is that the White House altered certain sections in Coats’ dossier about Russia’s interference in the 2018 midterm elections. The purpose of which was to make certain information stated therein, appear less critical.

Susan Gordon, on the other hand, submitted her handwritten resignation to Trump, on August 2019, which read

“I offer this letter as an act of respect and patriotism, not preference. You should have your team,”

Thereafter, Trump replaced the two intelligence officers with known Trump loyalists, including the new intelligence director who did not submit the whistleblower’s complaint to Congress.

What “Promise” Could be Disturbing Enough to Move an Intelligence Officer to Blow the Whistle?

In continuing with the speculations, the question of to whom Trump’s “promise” was made remains a mystery. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, a former comedian before he was elected president by majority of the Ukrainians, seems a likely candidate. He is known to have tread cautiously to avoid provoking Trump, lest the latter makes good on his threat to suspend the $250 million military aid that Congress appropriated for Ukraine. The financial aid is meant to help the country ward off Russia’s military might.

Zelensky’s first show of cooperation was when it halted any participation or involvement in Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections. This denotes that even before Congress approved the $250 million military aid, the Ukrainian president was already in direct communication with the White House

In August, 2019 it was reported that Trump was delaying the release of the Ukraine military aid. After questions about the slow delivery were raised by both Congressional Republicans and Democrats, Trump finally approved the release in mid-September, a week before the news of the intelligence whistleblower’s complaint blew up.

However, the latest Washington Post update said that according to the whistleblower, there was no mention of military aid during the conversation.

Frankly, unless Congress sheds light to this by way of a hearing, no one knows the exact reasons that moved an intelligence officer to finally blow the whistle on Trump.

Most Ring Neighbors App Users Don’t Have Issues with Amazon’s Collaboration with Police Departments

Ring Doorbell made big news in February 2018, when the world’s richest person Jeff Besos, founder and CEO of Amazon, bought the Ring company for a whopping price of $1 billion. It made even bigger news last July 2019, when word spread that Amazon had entered into surveillance agreements with hundreds of police departments across the U.S. using the Ring Neighbors app.

Although the collaboration with local law enforcements drew controversy, many homeowners are more than happy to know their Ring doorbell cameras are connected to their local police department. After all, it gives them the extra assurance that their properties are being closely monitored by the police for suspicious activities. Moreover, it can ease their anxiety in case some intruder does try to enter their home; knowing that the Neighbors app can also alert the local police. .

What’s the Fuss about Amazon’s Ring Partnership with Police Authorities

The Ring partnership with law enforcement agencies gives police departments access via the Ring Neighbors app. It is the application that allows homeowners to interact with their Ring doorbell from any Wi-Fi connected location. It also gives them the option to involve their neighbors and the police in monitoring video footage taken by their Ring Doorbell camera. Amazon’s agreement includes allowing U.S. law enforcement agencies to use surveillance video footage as supplementary resource in solving crimes.

 

 

One of the controversial aspects of the agreement though is that local police departments are incentivized to promote and push sales of Ring doorbells among community residents. Motherboard, an enterprise mainly engaged in recycling e-wastes, said that in Lakeland, Florida, the police department received 15 free video doorbell cams as incentive for the Neighborhood Watch app agreement. In addition, the Lakeland police agency receives $10 worth of credit that works toward receiving another free doorbell cam worth $135, from the Ring company.

The Decision to Buy a Ring Doorbell Still Rests on the Consumer

Consumers who buy a doorbell outfitted with video cameras are doing so because they are looking to add security to their home. Now if the doorbell’s video camera works with a smartphone app, homeowners are assured that everyone in their household will be opening the door only to people they know, or at least receive confirmation about a particular visitor before letting him or her in.

Actually, even before the Ring agreement with police agencies, the Ring Neighbors app, gives doorbell and app users the option to give access to their neighbors. That way, they can watch each other’s backs in monitoring suspicious characters prowling around their neighborhood.

Formally involving the local police in the neighborhood watch appears to be better, because having a Ring Doorbell in one’s home will already serve as a deterrent. It is likely that criminals will think twice before getting anywhere near a house with a Ring Doorbell, since there is a possibility that the local police will be able to spot them instantly via the Ring Neighbors app.

So if a community resident is in the process of comparing the pros and cons of a Ring 2 vs Ring Pro, he or she may decide on buying the Ring Pro Doorbell. Despite the Ring Pro’s wired set up, this model gives them additional security features via the Ring Neighbors app.

Trump’s Frequent Racist-Tweets are Endangering the Minority Population in the U.S.

Donald Trump, despite being the holder of the highest office in the U.S. has become more aggressive and dangerous in expressing his dislike for the non-white minority population of the country. As days and political activities advance toward the 2020 presidential elections; or toward Trump’s possible impeachment before the presidential elections, he has been unleashing double-edged racist slurs one after another.

Although many perceive it as Trump’s way of rousing support from his white-supremacist supporters, minority groups are also concerned that his racist attacks are endangering their safety as citizens of the U.S. Attacks that even lawmakers are not spared, since 4 women Democratic House Representatives and Democratic House Committee Chairman Representative Elijah Cummings, all of color, were not spared.

If no less than the president of the U.S. is tweeting and mouthing hate remarks directed at respected and prominent elected officials, then his supporters will likely feel justified to follow their leader.

Trump denies being a racist, which drew affirmation from websites frequented by his white supremacist supportes, including the openly neo-Nazis. He also elicited chants of “send her back” during his speech in his rally in Greenville, North Carolina, in support of his verbal attacks against Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, one of the House Representatives making up The Squad. In fact, after his attention-calling racist tweets in July, Trump enjoyed an increased approval rating coming from Republican voters.

Will Increased Approval Rating also Mean More White Supremacist Violence?

Ordinary non-white citizens feel they are no longer safe, as some are already looking into installing CCTV cameras in their homes as added protection. They are well aware of the importance of elections, and what some candidates are capable of doing just to get the vote they need to get elected or at worst, be re-elected in their current government positions.

There is no telling what deplorable acts of terrorism white supremacist fanatics will do, in order to prevent members of the minority groups from casting votes that could unseat Trump. They have been emboldened by Trump’s statement of “I don’t know if I can stop them (Trump supporters).” After all, the statement suggests that when it comes to imposing anti-racist laws, Trump becomes less aggressive.

Remember the Charlottesville incident in 2017? It involved a neo-Nazi rallyist who drove his car right into the group of counterprotesters voicing disapproval over white supremacists taking to the streets to promote Nazi ideology. The incident resulted to the deaths of a counterprotester named Heather Heyer and two police officers, and the life imprisonment of the neo-Nazi attacker, James Alex Fields, Jr.

The sad part about this incident is that Donald Trump still called the white supremacist rallyists as a bunch of “fine people”.

Installing surveillance cameras not only in homes but all over a community is one good way of monitoring people who may have intentions of doing harm. It is not uncommon for acts of aggression to happen especially when an election period draws near. In Texas and Chicago, surveillance cameras are installed in polling places to ensure, not only the integrity of the voting process that transpires, but also to heighten the security.

As a note, those interested to heed the advice of security service providers will find bargain deals for surveillance cameras at the Amazon Great Indian Sale on Electronics.

Trump Approval Ratings from Fellow GOP, Not a Sound Basis for Predicting Outcomes of 2020 Elections

Customary of news coming from U.S. president Donald Trump, he is currently spreading information that his approval ratings went up after targeting Congress’ 4 women-of color. The statement is partly true, but that went without clarifying that the approval came mostly from Republican supporters and not from a larger number of voters representing the country.

A new poll by USA Today showed that 57% of Republican voters agree that Trump’s verbal tirade against the four Congresswomen collectively referred to as The Squad, was not racist. However, in the latest CBS poll on an overall scale, 59% of the American voters polled, do not approve of Trump’s racist remarks, leaving 40 % who signified approval.

On a party level, 93% percent of Democrats and 68% percent of those supporting independents, regard Trump’s racist tweets as offensive, while among Republicans, only 37% held the same stance.

The latest party-level polls clearly indicate that there exists a partisan divide. Yet in a country in which the number of non-white population can have a significant impact in the 2020 presidential elections, their force is fast becoming a factor to consider. Racist tweets and “send her back” chants against lawmakers-of -color can surely influence the votes of a large demographic of non-white Americans.

In fact, Republican members who are aware of this, are trying to distance themselves from Trump’s racial slurs. Most of them come from American states in which the majority already consists of the so-called minority groups.

West Texas Republican Representative Will Hurd, the only black Republican in the Lower House and one of four GOP members who sided with House Democrats in condemning Trump’s racist tweets said.

”The tweets were not only racist, but they are also bad politics.”

American States in which Minorities Now Represent Majority of the Population

In stressing the impact of states with large numbers of minority voters, analysis of the July 2018 US census is currently showing projections that in less than a quarter century, white people will eventually make up the minority. The forecast is that around 70% of today’s population will see that happen during their lifetime.

In five American states, namely California, Hawaii, District of Columbia, New Mexico and Texas, the shift from minority-majority has already taken place. According to the projections, the tipping point of the shift to minority-majority across the country, could occur just in time for the 2020 presidential elections. That is because many among the minority groups will turn 18 years old on the said year. As an example, below is the:

Latest U.S. Census Estimates of Texas’ Minority-Majority

  • 41.5% – White Alone
  • 39.6% – Hispanic or Latino
  • 12.8% – African American
  • 5% – Asian

Fox News Publishes Results of Latest Fox Poll Showing Trump as a Less Favored Presidential Candidate

The most recent Fox News Poll conducted between June 09 and 12, 2019 involving 1001 randomly selected registered voters, revealed results not favorable to the re-election bid of incumbent president, Donald Trump. Despite being the news agency favored by Trump because it does not publish “fake news,” Fox News published the poll results showing that most responders would choose a Democratic candidate over Donald Trump.

Actually, polls were conducted by Fox News in collaboration with Beacon Research (Democrat) and Shaw Company (Republican), in 3 different occasions: March 17 – 20, 2019; May 11 – 14, 2019 and June 09 -12, 2019. The 3 polls, albeit showing different figures in terms of percentages, produced consistent results that many among the polled voters will lean toward voting for former Vice President Joe Biden.

Other Interesting Aspects of the Fox News Poll Results

On the question of who among the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, respondents would like to see as Trump’s opponent, Joe Biden is in the lead. Biden had a showing of 32% in the June poll, coming from a 35% and 31% results in the May and March polls, respectively.

However, to a question in the June poll that asked interviewees on how they would react if Trump is re-elected, thirty percent (30%) said they would be Scared, while twenty-one percent (21%) would be Enthusiastic . The same question was asked in previous polls conducted in connection with the 2016 presidential elections, in which as many as forty-nine percent (49%) were Scared and only thirteen percent (13%) were Enthusiastic.

On hypothetical 2020 presidential match-ups fielding other top Democratic candidate as Trump’s potential opponent, the June poll results showed the incumbent president losing.

  • Bernie Sanders garnered 49% while Trump had 40%
  • Elizabeth Warren won with 43% against Trump’s 41%
  • Kamala Harris earned 42%, a slight edge over Trump’s 41%
  • Pete Buttigieg’s latest 41% showing against Trump’s 40%, was a reversal of a previous Buttigieg 40% – Trump 41%.

Senate Judiciary Hearing on AG Barr: A Great Example of Partisan Politics

The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last Wednesday, May 01, 2019 in which US Attorney General William Barr wash harshly grilled by Democratic Senators, provided ample proof that partisan politics continues to prevail over matters that required unbiased judgment.

AG Barr was called on to discuss special counsel Mueller’s Report after he released a redacted copy last April 18, 2018. AG Barr though released a 448-page report in which 11% of the text had been redacted. Nearly 40% of the pages released by AG Barr had at least one redaction, comprising well over 900 redacted text blocks in all. The report was divided into 2 volumes:

VOLUME 1 – Mueller’s report on investigations to which a conclusion was reached that there was Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election won by Donald Trump. Such interference is deemed a violation of U.S. criminal law.

VOLUME 2 – Mueller’s report citing instances in which President Trump made attempts to obstruct justice by trying to control the ongoing investigations and by trying to wield his presidential influence on those who refused to abide with his instructions.

What Barr’s Testimony Revealed during the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing

The overall impression that AG Barr gave is that he viewed Mueller’s report as a condensation of false accusations that Donald Trump was part of the group who were coordinating with the supposed Russian interference. A stance for which he received grilling questions coming mostly from Democratic Senators.

On several occasions, AG Barr asserted that Donald Trump was falsely accused,. It was his defense on why he concluded that the Mueller investigation did not provide enough evidence to support that Trump was in collusion with the alleged Russian interference. He believes that obstruction of justice was not present because Trump was merely acting on his constitutional àuthority to supervise groundless and unfounded proceedings.

Barr’s testimony also revealed that partisan politics was at work since several times during the hearing, and whenever AG Barr fumbled with his answers, Panel Chairman Lindsey Graham (Rep-S.C.) came to Barr’s rescue by saying the Attorney General is being slandered.

Calls for AG Barr’s Resignation after Conclusion of Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing

Democratic Senators Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand who are also in the running for president in the 2020 elections, joined other Democrats on calls for AG Barr to resign. The general consensus is that AG William Barr had lied to Congress and therefor not worthy of the trust placed on him as head of the Department of Justice.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Dem-Ca.) prefers to reserve judgment until after their turn to question AG Barr on Thursday via the House’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Still, Speaker Pelosi opined that after the Senate hearing, AG Barr’s responses and comments do not live up to the standards conforming to an attorney general.

Closing Of US Mexico Border: Trump’s Real Intent is to Close Ports of Entry

Apparently feeling high on the belief that he has been exonerated from special counsel Mueller’s report of a possible collusion with the Russian government, US president Donald Trump stirs up another controversy. At a rally held in Michigan on last Thursday (March 28, 2019),and in a brief press conference in Mar-a-Lago, in Florida last Friday, Trump reiterated his signature campaign promise of closing the US Border to prevent migrating asylum seekers from coming in.

Trump’s announcement actually came as a threat directed at the Mexican government. He accuses Mexico of not doing anything to stop the unending flow of refugees arriving at the border, coming from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Naturally, his threat drew negative reactions, more so when he followed up his threat with tweets that he will make good on that threat this week.

Does Trump Really Have the Power to Close the US Mexico Border?

If Trump insists on imposing such action, he will do so at the risk of violating immigration laws that forbid anyone to deny protection to people seeking sanctuary in the country, regardless of the manner with which they gained entry. It can be recalled that Trump previously attempted to suppress the entry of a massive number of immigrants arriving at the border by invoking national security rules. However, Judge Jon S. Tigar of the San Francisco District Court placed a restraining order on Trump’s planned action.

Closing the border therefore, and specifically for that purpose is in defiance of immigration laws and of the judge’s order as well.

Trump is Using Border Wall Closing as Excuse to Carry Out Another Tactic

A senior Trump administration officer explained by way of telephone interview with Dara Lind of Vox, is that what the president had actually meant was to control the flow of people coming in by closing official ports of entry at the border. Although the senior administration officer added that closing of port entries is a last resort, border agents are currently being moved to the border areas to àttend to the refugees apprehended.

Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney explicitly stated

”we need the people from the ports of entry to go out and patrol in the desert where we don’t have a wall”

As a result, reduced number of border agents manning the ports of entry has already slowed down flow of traffic. Business communities at El Paso are already apprehensive about the long- waits occurring at the ports. San Diego, does not want a repeat of the November 2018 temporary shutdown of the San Ysidro port of entry. Even if the border agents were deployed only for a few hours to respond with force against an organized group of asylum seekers, the temporary closure resulted to the loss of $5.3 million in business revenues.

What Trump wants to happen is to discourage American companies from moving operations to Mexico, using it as leverage for Mexico to act on the asylum seekers making their way to the US border. To Trump, he considers it as the price Mexico has to pay. Yet, he seems to disregard the fact that an estimated $1.5 billion worth of business transpires daily along the US Mexico border, as millions of people legally cross the border as part of their daily routine.

Congressional Committee Investigations: Will Genuine, Downright “Truth” Prevail?

Michael Cohen, the ex Donald Trump personal attorney sentenced to serve three years in prison for pleading guilty to several charges, including lying to Congress,  had once again testified in different Congressional Committee hearings.

As a backgrounder, Cohen’s guilty plea was said to be a result of a cooperation deal, entered into with a team of lawyer working with Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The latter, is the former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (2001-2013). He has beeb tasked by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to oversee ongoing investigations into accusations about Russia’s pivotal interference in the 2016 presidential elections won by Donald Trump.

Senate and House Committee Hearings

Recently, Cohen had spent three consecutive days giving testimonies in support of damning allegations raised by Special Counsel Mueller against Donald Trump.

The first and third were Intelligence Committee hearings held by the Senate and the House, on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. The two separate investigations are also delving deeper into Trump’s involvement in certain private dealings (Moscow Trump Tower) with certain Russian officials.

Inasmuch as it was a closed-door hearing, both Republican and Democratic committee members present in the hearings, refused to give specific details on the results of their investigations.

Summary of House Committee on Oversight and Reform Proceedings

On Wednesday, Cohen testified at the hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Unlike the Intelligence Committee hearings, the event last Wednesday was televised nationwide. Millions of Americans heard Cohen’s testimony and had glimpses of documents he presented as evidences against Donald Trump.

Among evidences presented included checks signed by Donald Trump, which the latter denied to have paid as hush-money, and after announcing that he no longer had control over the string of Trump businesses. Cohen also presented email related to a meeting called by Trump, as well as drafts of the statements Cohen was to falsely testify during the House Committee Investigation in 2017.

Other proofs submitted were the overstated financial statements submitted by Donald Trump to suit a business purpose, which were also understated for IRS taxation purposes.

Will Cohen’s Testimony and Evidences Hold Water in Ending Trump’s Presidency?

Cohen’s testimonies are largely under scrutiny as violations of lawyer-client relationship, and for his own admissions that he had previously lied to evade payment of large taxes.

In all three Congressional committee hearings, Trump’s Republican allies capitalized on Cohen’s previous lies which he later admitted as such. Democrats on the other hand believe that this time, Cohen is telling the truth. Cohen’s testimonies are mostly a case of his words pitted against Donald Trump’s, whose capability for telling the truth is just as questionable. Yet, according to some Democratic committee members, Cohen is only one of key witnesses they will call on.

Numbers of Bankruptcies in Agricultural Sector Soar After Trump Tariffs

Trade rifts with other countries borne by the Trump Tariffs signed by Donald Trump in January 2018, is now taking its toll on U.S. farmers. Wall Street Journal (WSJ) recently reviewed federal data pertaining to the Chapter 12 Bankruptcy Protection extended by US courts to farmer or fisherman families. The results of WSJ’s review revealed that the rate by which US farmers have filed for Chapter 12 Bankruptcy Protection, has soared.

District Courts covering the states of Arkansas, Indiana, Illinois, and Kansas, among others are seeing sharp increases in petitions for bankruptcy protection. The Eight Circuit Court of Appeals shows a swelling of numbers by 96%; the Seventh Circuit garnered twice the number of petitions received when compared to the 2008 figures, while the Tenth Circuit saw a 59% increase from what they had a decade ago.

The Bankruptcy Trend is Expected to Transpire in Other Business Sectors

Initially, the sets of tariff imposed on importation of solar panels and washing machines, and later on steel and aluminum, seemed far from creating adverse impact on the agricultural sector. However, as the exports of foreign trading partners suffered a blow from Trump’s importation tariffs, their nation retaliated by also imposing import tariffs on US products entering their respective territories. Retaliatory actions came not only from China, but from EU member countries, Canada, and Mexico.

Exportation of US homegrown agricultural products like soybeans, coffee, oranges and other produce such as pork, dairy and whiskey, just to name a few, has become less competitive. Retaliatory import tariffs had weakened the trading positions of US agricultural exporters.

The trade rift with China turned into a full-blown Trade War, when Trump announced in July 2018 that all Chinese products and goods purchased by U.S. businesses from China will be meted with 25% importation duties. The value estimated at $50 billion worth, all the more created an impasse. Trump’s move only increased the cost of materials and components used by US manufacturers in assembling or in producing their goods.

Although negotiations are currently underway, US farmers and other affected businesses are not seeing enough income that will allow them to recover from ballooning debts; or even in continuing their operations.

Job Loss Looms as U.S. – China Trade Tension Lags on in 2019

A report released by Trade Partnership Worldwide shows that the U.S. economy is bound to lose 1 up to 2 million jobs, if in 2019 Trump imposes the 25 percent tariff on all Chinese exports. The research report was paid for by “Tariffs Hurt the Heartland”, a pro-free trade lobby group.

Although the Trump administration asserts that the 25% tariff aims to revive the U.S.manufacturing industry, the timing by which the tax plan surfaced gave way to a different interpretation. Other than it being perceived as a retaliatory tariff on levies imposed by other countries on U.S. exports, the singling out of U.S. products exported to China is perceived as a political retaliation against China.

Trade tension between U.S. and China started when in April 2018, Chinese smartphone maker ZTE was found to have been illegally-shipping American-made components to Iran. The discovery resulted to a 7-year trade ban between American software companies and ZTE. However, the finality of imposing the 25% tariff on all Chinese exports will also impact U.S. import. As it is, U.S. manufacturers also import materials and components from China, which they use in producing U.S. branded products.

Currently Chinese negotiations with the Trump administration are ongoing, using as leverage the US$250 billion Chinese exports to the U.S. At present, tariffs on products imported by American companies from China varies, pegged at either 10% or 20%. If by March 02, 2019 negotiators fail to reach an agreement, it is likely that China will also impose a 25% levy on all Chinese exports contracted by American manufacturers. Instead of revitalizing the U.S. manufacturing industry, increased costs of products procured from China, may only lead to the weakening of the industry.

British Brexit Proponent Sir James Dyson Voices His Views on the U.S.-China Trade Tension

Sir James Dyson, British inventor and founder of the company that produces revolutionary vacuum cleaners, bladeless fans and other electrical appurtenances, voiced his opinion about the ongoing U.S.-China trade tension. He reiterated his advocacy for a free economy, as a way of harnessing the best technology to use in  manufacturing the best products that will benefit consumers.

Inasmuch as it is difficult to predict the resulting outcome of the trade negotiations between U.S. and China, his advice is not to wait on what changes will transpire. Sir James Dyson, cited as example his decision to build a UK-based electric car manufacturing company in Singapore, saying that there is no telling where trade relations head to in light of the continuing changes in governments and their policies. On that note, Sir James commented

“If one source becomes unavailable then we have another source to go to…. “That’s nothing to do with trade tariffs, that’s to do with supply and continuity of supply”.

In the U.S. American vacuum cleaner manufacturers like Oreck, sells machines that have been initially fabricated in China then fully assembled in the U.S.; or in some cases, import fully assembled products that will distributed under the Oreck brand.

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